When Bad Things Happen…

This week was a challenge for people in our suburban DC community. A small jet crashed into a house on approach to a local airpark. Six people died in the crash; three people in the plane and a mother and her two young children in their home

Similar tragedies happen daily around the country and around the world. And we suffer. We question why such tragedies happen. Our faith in basic goodness is challenged as we try to make sense of the senseless.

There are no easy answers to crisis. There is no roadmap to healing. Each situation, each event means that we have to dig down deep within ourselves, answer questions to which there is no certain answer, and somehow make sense of reality.

I think of a friend who many years ago suffered a traumatic injury when a zipline she was riding failed. She has fully recovered in the years since the accident and acknowledges that she is grateful for what happened! During her many months of recovery she received care, love, support, and nurturegreater than anything she’d previously known. In the midst of life-changing adversity, she was able to receive love.

Maybe that’s the best we can wish for when bad things happen. If we need help, we can open to receive. If we can be of help, we can give.

May the gifts of giving and receiving bless you and your loved ones all through the year.